Pope Francis has taken to Twitter to ask his army of followers to pray for him.

The pontiff disregarded the formal style of the previous tweets sent by Pope Benedict XVI by signing off “Pope Francis”.

Tweeting from the official @Pontifex Twitter page, the newly-anointed leader addressed his 1.9 million followers, saying: “Dear friends, I thank you from my heart and I ask you to continue to pray for me. Pope Francis.”

The message was retweeted almost 10,000 times within an hour of being posted.

Pope Francis’ fresh approach to the role was evident as he addressed more than 150,000 devoted worshippers from a balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square on Sunday afternoon.

His off-the-cuff homily was only five minutes long, but its core message was “that of mercy”.

He mentioned God as having an unfathomable capacity to pardon, and noted that people are often harder on each other than God is towards sinners.

In his brief address, he spoke only in Italian and ended his speech with the words “buon pranzo” (have a good lunch), much to the delight of the masses of people.

His comments and humour drew cheers and laughter from the crowd as they waved Argentinian flags and chanted his name.

It was the first time the pontiff’s studio window was opened since Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave his last window blessing on February 24. Francis began his first Sunday as pontiff by appearing from a side gate of the Vatican to greet onlookers ahead of his morning Mass.

He waved to the crowd outside St Anna’s Gate before shaking the hands of parishioners and kissing babies.

The laid-back leader of the Catholic Church then went over to the chief of his security detail and indicated that he wanted to greet two priests in the crowd.

The clergy members were brought forward and embraced the newly-elected pope.

Pope Francis, 76, then delivered an improvised blessing at the Vatican’s tiny parish church, further distancing himself from the formal ways of his predecessors.

It’s apparent that, after just five days into his new role, his humble and down-to-earth personality is already becoming a hallmark of his papacy.

Pope Francis’ busy schedule is set to continue this week.

On Monday he meets the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

She will be joined on Tuesday by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and a number of world leaders who will fly into Rome for the pontiff’s Inaugural Mass.

This Saturday Pope Francis will travel to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, where he will meet with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who resigned last month.

The 86-year-old is the first pontiff to step down in more than 600 years.